Six killed in car bomb attack on Damascus government stronghold

Six people were killed in a car bomb attack Monday at a checkpoint in a government stronghold on the outskirts of Syrian capital Damascus, a monitoring group said.

The attack took place in the district of Sayyida Zeinab, south of the city, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

State news agency SANA reported a "terrorist car bomb explosion" at the entrance to al-Dhayabieh district just south of Sayyida Zeinab.

The area is home to an important Shiite shrine. Pro-Iranian militias who have come to the aid of overstretched Syrian government forces have boasted that they are defending the shrine.

Deadly bomb attacks on checkpoints in Sayyida Zeinab in January and February, claimed by the Islamic State extremist group, killed almost 200 people in total including more than 100 civilians, according to reports from the Observatory at the time.

Beirut (dpa) - Syrian government forces and their allies advanced deeper into the shrinking rebel-held enclave in eastern Aleppo on Wednesday, seizing the Old City, while demanding the armed opposition groups leave the area.